A News Blog

Keeping you in the know in the world of politics

TUSCALOOSA | Tuscaloosa senior U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, who entered Congress in 1979 as a Democrat and switched parties in 1994 after he had moved up from the House to the Senate in 1986, has been very, very good to his hometown, the University of Alabama and the state as a whole as one of the masters of the pork barrel. In fact, Shelby says his goal before he retires is to channel a billion dollars of por—er, special line… Read More »

BEE BRANCH | Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl is, in my estimation, one of the more inept members of the World’s Most Exclusive Club, and something he said recently, as he tried to obstruct the deluge of bills the Democrats passed in the lame duck session of the 111th Congress has just stuck in my craw and I need to get it out. Kyl actually insinuated that doing the job he was elected to do this time of year was… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | Spotted this morning, up close and personal, was one of the most endangered species in Alabama: a Democrat serving in statewide office. That would be Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, who, along with Alabama Public Service Commissioner Lucy Baxley, are the only two Democrats elected by the state at large. And with the Republican electoral tsunami last month, in which the GOP captured every constitutional office on the ballot, Cobb and Baxley can thank their lucky… Read More »

State Rep. Mike Hubbard, an Auburn Republican, took some time out this morning to sit down for a Town Hall during the three day Legislative Orientation Session at the University of Alabama School of Law. It was one day before he will be sworn in as the new Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives.… Read More »

TUSCALOOSA | Montgomery native John Cochran has been a fixture on the network news, both NBC and now ABC, for nearly 40 years now, but once worked for the late Bert Bank’s WTBC AM radio station, which trained many a disc jockey, reporter and news anchor back in its glory days before FM, NPR and mega radio chains. Cochran will be returning to his old stomping grounds Tuesday as part of the 10 quadrennial Legislative Organization session organized by the… Read More »